





^6/*^^^ 



^^ 




THE JEWELS OF VIRGINIA. 



JiY 

Col. C^eoro-e Wvtlie Mimforcl 



■ Publisbed for the Benefit of the Hollywood Memorial Association. 



F 
%%5 



il« §nvth oi f hpnia: 



A. LECTTJRE, 



DRLIVKRED BY INVITATION OF THE 



HOLLYWOOD MEMORIAL ASSOCIATION 



IN RICHMOND, JANUARY 18, 1867, 



Col. GEOEGE WYTHE MUNFORD, 

Of Gloucester, Va. 

[Published for the benefit of the Association. J 

RICHMON^D : 
GARY & CLEMMITT, PRINTERS. 



1867. 



\^ 



-L^ 



/ o 



In E._.i; 
Wis. Hist, So«» 



LECTUKE 



Ladies and Gentlemen, 

One of the most difficult things to 
accomplish is the composition of good toasts. To make 
them worthy of note they should be sententious, full of 
meaning, and like the champaigne in which they ought to 
be drunk, spirited and buoyant. Of the great number I 
have heard, the only one I will recall was delivered mauy 
years ago by the great Carolinian. It was "Virginia! 
Like the mother of the Gracchi, when asked for her jewels, 
she points to her sons." This sentiment, rich with classic 
beauty, high compliment and sparkling brilliancy, I have 
adopted as the theme of my discourse on the present occa- 
sion. 

But I have so seldom addressed a public audience, and 
especially of late, that I feel like the aged minstrel: 

"Amid the strings his fingers stray 'd, 
And an uncertain warbUng made, 
And oft ho shook his lioary head." 

If I shall gain his reassured confidence, I may begin to 
"talk anon 

Of good earl Francis, dead and gone ; 
And of earl Walter, rest him God! 
A braver ne'er to battle rode." 

I may make an effort to bring to remembrance the great, 
the good, the wise and the brave of Virginia, who were 
characterized by the great and good, the wise and brave 
Calhoun as the "jewels" she wears, and to which she 
points with exalted pride as ornaments that have made her 



4 LECTURE. 

famous in story, and given her glory and immortality. 
There has been no son of hers of any repute in her coun- 
cils, or the councils of the nation, for the last fifty years, 
that I have not seen and known. I have had opportunity 
to scan their public actions and writings, their persons and 
lineaments, the character of their minds, the intonation of 
their voice, their style of oratory, their modes of thought, 
the principles they inculcate, the parties upon whose altars 
they poured their incense, the aims and objects they had in 
view. 

But where shall I begin ? "Which casket shall I open ? 
Her house is full of them — -jaspers, sapphires, chalcedo- 
nies and emeralds. In the quaint language of St. John the 
evangelist, at the close of his gospel, I may say, and there 
are also many things which the great men of Virginia have 
accoiTiplished, "the which, if they should be written, every 
one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain 
the books that should be written." I shall have then to 
pick and to choose, and while I would do injustice to none, 
by omission, I must per force leave some of them on the 
pedestals, upon whose superstructure some Houdon, or 
Crawford, or Rogers, may rear their form sublime. And 
then again there are thousands who have never entered her 
councils, whose charity and hospitality, and rare intellects 
and virtues, have made Virginia lovely and of good report, 
and spread her renown from pole to pole. 

Besides the oaks of her forests, there are roses and lil- 
lies in her vales, and 

" Though large the forest monarch throws 
His leafy shade, 
Yet sweet the juicy hawthorne grows 
Adown the glade." 

Of all her brilliants, none can compare with her Wash- 
ington, the greatest of all the Kohinoors of ancient or of 
modern times. Every chisel and every brush has essayed 
to develop his character and actions; every pen endeavored 



LECTURE. 5 

to describe and beautify both; everj^ Hower and leaf have 
been woven and twined around him; every heart has 
poured forth its love; every tongue uttered his name with 
loud acclaim, and all the nations praise him. I name the 
name of Washington, simply because my subject is Vir- 
ginia's jewels, and I could not omit her purest, most pellu- 
cid, unblemished diamond. 

In the mysterious book of Revelation we read of one 
"that was, and is not, and yet is;" and this language 
seems to convey a contradiction in terms. But when I 
contemplate the life of Washington, I can understand how 
it may be true; f or he was, and is not, and j;fii.is. He 
liv^d, he is dead, and yet hejives. We may well imagine 
that his living soul has found a blissful paradise. We may 
well imagine that one of the four and twenty seats v/hich 
are round and about the throne of Jehovah has been re- 
served for him, and that he occupies the place of one of 
the four and twenty elders that were clothed in white rai- 
ment with crowns of gold upon their heads. 

But, more than this, he lives on earth, he endures m his 
precepts, in his writings, in his prophetic warnings, in his 
matchless example, in the institution of learning which he 
endowed, and to which the fame of the second Washing- 
ton, now at its head, has given a new attractive force; by 
which the minds that will be enlightened there will en- 
lighten others, and so on, wave upon wave extending and 
enlarging through endless ages. And besides, we have a 
living witness in the person of Governor Wise, (another of 
Virginia's jewels), who happily reminds us, in glowing 
language, that George Washington lives in another sense ; 
for " in Houdon's marble we have the form and feature, 
the limb and lineament, the configuration and proportion, 
the stature and posture, and we have enlivening all, illu- 
mining all, the mien, and manner, and majesty of the man, 
the breath as well as the body, the grandeur of the moral 
greatness of the very soul of the living Washington!" 

But how long he may be permitted to live in the capitol 



6 LECTURE. 

in peace I know not. The deeds that are being done in 
these days ought to make his bones restless in their tomb; 
for if aliens to our soil can mutilate and deface the col- 
lege he endowed, demolish its apparatus and destroy its 
libraries; if they could lay in ashes the beautiful and im- 
posing buildings of the Virginia Military Institute, and rob 
it of all that could be appropriated as trophies, and displace 
from its pedestal that statue in bronze which Virginia had 
erected there, as another " endearing proof of her grati- 
tude to her living son," what may they not do? How long 
his bones may be permitted to rest in Virginia soil I know 
not; for if they can obliterate at one blow our ancient 
boundaries, and erect a new state by the consent of the 
sham representatives of three or four counties, and at their 
pleasure take from us county after county, and annex them 
to another state, why may they not give Mount Vernon to 
Massachusetts, and give her the title to claim our conse- 
crated relic as her OAvn, her living son ? Yes, they may 
take that " West Augusta," upon which he relied as his 
refuge and safeguard, and give it to another; they may 
take from his mother Virginia her rights and her heritage; 
they make take his monuments and grind them to powder, 
and sow it on the fields, but the father Avill live in the 
hearts of his children, and he will live forever "to the 
world an immortal example of true glor3^" 

If he is dead, let his disinterestedness live. Let his let- 
ter to the general assembly live, in which they were told 
"that when first called to the command of the American 
forces, he resolved, and since then he had invariably ad- 
hered to the resolution, to shut his hands against every 
pecuniary recompense." Let "the endowments of the 
hero and the virtues of the patriot" live. Let his en- 
deavors to establish the liberties of his country live, whe- 
ther those liberties under the pressure of modern radical- 
ism survive or perish. Let the great works for the im- 
provement of his native state, and which were encouraged 
l)y his patronage, live. Let the great avenue of the state 



LECTURE. 7 

wliicli he (lesi«;nate(l l)e opened up, until at every pulsation 
her life-blood as it gushes from her heart shall How from 
one extremity to the other. Above all, if we are ever 
restored to the Union, and awarded our equal station by 
the side of the other states, then let the spirit of amity and 
of mutual deference and concession which he invoked as 
indispensably necessary at the adoption of the constitution 
be revived, and let the era of harmony and peace bring- 
forth its living fruit, to l)e enjoyed equally by all, now and 
forever. 

And if it would be improper to omit the name of Wash- 
ington, for the same reason I must mention the grand old 
orator Patrick Henry, whose eloquence sparkles, even at 
second hand, like corruscations from the tips of brilliants; 
and the great and revered George Mason, the author of the 
Bill of Eights and of the first Constitution for Virginia, 
the composition of which required the learning of the 
scholar, the wisdom of the statesman and the purity of the 
patriot. Every one who has dipped into the history of the 
colonies knows that Henry was the foremost to draw the 
sword in defence of the rights of the country, and was the 
originator of the three greatest test measures of that epoch, 
the resolutions against the Stamp Act, the resolutions for 
placing the colony in military array, and equipping her 
armies for the field, and the resolutions instructing our 
delegates in congress to declare the colonies free and inde- 
pendent. They well know that he was the animating spirit 
of the revolution, leading and swaying public opinion, and 
boldly guiding it for the public good. None but intrepid 
men, in such times, can induce the masses to attempt an 
overthrow of established governments. Men who are cal- 
culating chances of success, and looking to self-promotion 
or self-interest, are looked upon with cold indifference. 
When the masses of* a community are chafing under wrono- 
and oppression, each one of them feels that singly he is 
powerless, and therefore for a long time they smother 
their discontent, and mutter hatred between their teeth; 



8 LECTURE. 

but when at lengtli an upright, disinterested, bokl patriot 
arises, with burning oratory on his lips, and a proud con- 
sciousness of rectitude stamped upon his brow, and ani- 
mates the crowd, and gives them hope of success, he be- 
comes their mouthpiece, gives utterance to their stifled 
feehngs, and is able to move and hurl the masses whither- 
soever lie will. This was Patrick Ilenrj; thus he threw 
his soul into the cause, and waked the living spirit of re- 
bellion, hurling it against the old government, and causing 
its overthrow and annibilation. 

So, on the other hand, when men have been roused and 
agitated, and induced with all their energies to upturn and 
destroy their government and laws, and anarchy begins to 
reign, the wealthy and the prudent begin to take alarm, 
and eagerly look around for some balance wheel to regulate 
and control the disordered mass, and bring system and 
order out of chaos. Then some man equally bold, equally 
wise, and equally patriotic and disinterested, is required to 
compose the popular mind by giving form and life to the 
desire to protect property, and life and honor. A declara- 
tion of rights is necessary, a form of government is essen- 
tial, with all its departments complete, to give stabilit}'', and 
to ensure calm and repose. And this was the duty which 
was assigned to George Mason, and which he accomplished 
with unsurpassed ability. For this he drew the Virginia 
Bill of Rights, which announces the very essence of the 
great principles and doctrines of freedom from the earliest 
times, the elemental ideas, which constitute the foundations 
upon which society rests, and upon which all good and free 
governments are constituted. These principles afforded 
the pabulum for thought, and were the short pithy axioms 
which men could easily understand, and for which they 
were ready to risk their lives and their fortunes, and for 
the maintenance of which they intended to peril every- 
thing within their power. And then when they had 
grasped the principles, there came forth from his brain the 
form of government, which embodied these principles, and 



LECTURE. 9 

afforded evidence of the stability which was so much 
needed, and which had the effect to compose the prudent, 
to restrain the vicious, and protect all in the acquirement 
of propert}' and in the maintenance of right. 

Thus we had the orator to rouse, animate, lead, upturn 
and destroy the old government, and the statesman to com- 
pose, calm, regulate and govern. And then to show the 
confidence reposed in the orator and destructionist, the 
general assembly elected Henry the first ■ governor, to es- 
tablish and make solid the new government, to put it in 
motion, to see that all its machinery worked smoothly, 
without jostle or derangement, and to protect and defend 
all interests entrusted to his governmental care. 

Such gems as these I cannot omit, though I have been 
constrained to limit myself almost entirely to the contem- 
plation of the jewels that I have personally seen, or with 
whom I have had personal intercourse. 

I^Tor can I omit, next to these great men, among the 
architects of Virginia's fame, her sons, Jefferson, Madison 
and Monroe. Every one, without hesitation, would desig- 
nate them as jewels worthy to ornament the brow of any 
state, but at the same time it would be universally admit- 
ted that it would be next to impossible to present any 
characteristic of their lives, which histories and biographies 
have not already given. I cannot pass them by unnoticed, 
and yfet I do not expect to add one jot or tittle to their 
exalted fixme. Each one was himself a monument of in- 
dustry, of intelligence, of consistent and devoted purpose, 
of patriotism pure and fearless, and of rare and far-reachr 
ing philanthropy. They all ascended the ladder of fame 
successively, and each as he advanced paused at each 
round, to make an enduring mark for the benefit of pos- 
terity, and for the glory of Ms country. Few of those 
present, I imagine, have ever seen these great men, or 
listened to their pleasant and instructive words. I have 
liad the good fortune to see and converse with each of 
them, and have a most pleasing recollection of their per- 



10 LECTURE. 

sonal appearance and dcliglitful manners. There arc por- 
traits and monuments of each, to which reference may be 
had. In the hall of the house of delegates there is a full 
length portrait of Mr. Jefferson, taken by Catlin, which 
was purchased by a few gentlemen of this city, and placed 
there as a memento of his person, and a memorial of their 
devotion to his character. You have all seen, too, the 
colossal statue in bronze by Crawford on the Washington 
monument. Besides these, the general assembly author- 
ized Alexander Gait, of l!^orfolk, a young Virginia sculp- 
tor of great promise, to execute a marble statue, which 
has been placed at the University. 

As I remember the great patriot and sage, he was tall, 
slender, and remarkably erect, with a small head and thin 
hair, originally reddisli, but so intermingled with grey as 
to have softened it to a pleasant hue, with mild, speaking 
blue eyes, emitting the rays of his brightened intellect, and 
a countenance composed, yet frank and enlightened. 

Of Mr. Madison there are doubtless many likenesses, 
but the chief are those taken by Stuart in 1803, by Catlin 
in 1831, and by Longacre in 1833, three years before his 
death. His person as he appeared to me when in the 
Convention of 1829-'30, was that of a Virginia gentleman 
of the olden school, of medium stature, dressed in a plain 
suit of black cloth, with short knee breeches clasped at the 
knees with silver buckles, black silk stockings, and shoes 
fastened with silver buckles too, with powdered hair, full 
over the ears, and smoothly brushed and tied behind. Add 
to these a speaking eye, a fine forehead, a benevolent coun- 
tenance, a cheerful, healthy complexion, tinged with the 
ruby of a moderate quantity of the best old madeira, with 
a hand open, and a purse ready to minister to the wants 
of the destitute and poor, and a mind enlightened by 
copious drafts from the pierian spring, and you will have 
a good idea of Mr. Madison as I remember him. 

Mr. Monroe was taller than Mr. Madison, but the for- 
mer, at the same period, had become very feeble and much 



LECTURE. 11 

broken, his face exceedingly wrinkled, and complexion 
pale and sallow. In the last year of his presidency, when 
I saw him in the white-house transacting business with 
his secretary of state John Quincy Adams, I would have 
described him as another specimen of the Virginia gentle- 
man, affable and courteous, whose soul had abandoned 
recreation and pleasure, and devoted itself to the cares, 
and toils, and troubles of great affairs, and whose constant 
thoughts were the welfare and honor of a great people. 

Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Monroe were educated at William 
and. Mary college, the alma mater of as man}^ great men 
as ever adorned the halls of any literary institution, and 
their free and unrestrained intercourse with the polished 
society of old "Williamsburg gave them an ease and ele- 
gance of manners, which, in after life, was mellowed and 
chastened by the refinement of the most elegant circles 
of America and of foreign courts. Mr. Madison was edu- 
cated at Princeton college, and he, too, possessed a fasci- 
nation and grace, a simplicity and frankness that repelled 
formality, and lent a charm to his society that was exceed- 
ingly delightful. If at any period of their history the peo- 
ple had occasion for men of pure and irreproachable lives, 
of enlightened intellect, with judgment and prudence, 
armed with argument and reason, with a quiver full of the 
choicest arrows from all the armories of literature, of un- 
ruffled temper, of firm and decided action, simple in dress, 
easy of access, frank and artless in conversation, yet en- 
livening and instructive, they would turn with undoubting 
faith to these men as representatives fit for any office. 

They accordingly successively occupied all of the politi- 
cal offices fit for such a rare combination of qualifications, 
and every office was honored by their presence. Each of 
them has left among the archives of his office enduring 
evidences of industry and extraordinary powers. Mr. Jef- 
ferson and Mr. Monroe were members of the general 
assembly, members of conventions, members of congress, 
governors, ministers to foreign courts,, secretary of state. 



12 LECTURE. 

Mr. Jeft'erson was vice president, and both were presidents 
of the United States. Mr. Madison occnpied all of the 
same offices, except that he never held a diplomatic ap- 
pointment, nor was governor of the state. Mr. Jefferson 
and Mr. Madison were each visitors and rectors of the Uni# 
versity, and Mr. Madison and Mr. Monroe were each in 
the convention to revise the constitution of Virginia in 
1829-'30. Each served as president of the United States 
for eight years; but Mr. Monroe was the only one of all 
the presidents who came into office with every electoral 
vote save one. 

I had the pleasure on several occasions of hearing Mr. 
Jefferson in the unreserve of private conversation. Such 
men necessarily enchain the attention of others, and their 
reminiscences of events and incidents in their previous 
lives, and in their deep research after knowledge, are ex- 
ceedingly entertaining. On one occasion, with an enchant- 
ing pleasantry, he was giving a descrij)tion of the offices 
and character of the muses and graces, and of the poesy of 
the ancient mythology, and being myself a young man 
then, I was particularly struck with his remark, "that he 
had been amused in his reading to find that upon antique 
gems Vulcan, the artizau of Olympus, was represented in 
his workshop forging arrows for the little god Cupid." 
Our fair daughters and bachelor sons will have to keep a 
sharp look out, for if in these days the deformed old god, 
with his accumulated experience and skill, should be still 
engaged in his ancient occupation, it will be exceedingly 
difficult to shun those arrows, feathered and keenly tipped 
by a master workman, and sped with unerring certainty by 
a very cunning and wary little bowman. Mr. Jefferson, on 
the occasion referred to, glided into the theme of the mo- 
numents of antiquity, and dwelt upon the perfection of 
ancient architecture, and the magnificence of ancient tem- 
ples and public buildings, and said that he had selected for 
the model of the capitol at Richmond the Maison Carre, or 
temple of Nismes, which though of more modern date was 



LECTURE. 13 

remarkable for its beauty and architectural proportions. 
That model is still preserved in the capitol; but any one 
who will examine it, will discern in the building which was 
erected many departures from the design, particularly in 
the change of the attic into a basement, and in the con- 
struction of the columns to the portico, which are of the 
same diameter from the base to the capitol, and in the 
omission of the steps to the portico, which add grace and 
usefulness in the model. 

Mr. Jetferson's mind at that time was engrossed with the 
erection of the University, and his conversation continually 
ran upon that topic. It was the pet of his old age, and he 
petted it, because he hoped at no distant day that all the 
orders of architecture would be developed there. And he 
expressed the fond desire to build up the institution, for 
the purpose of preparing Virginia's sons to become the 
instructors of future generations, and to diffuse her prin- 
ciples and policy among the other states, instead of having 
the minds of our own youth polluted and corrupted by im- 
ported teachers, who had overrun the state and taken pos- 
session of our academies and primary schools. He had 
the sagacity to discern the necessity and the importance of 
institutions at which the highest branches are taught, to 
ensure for all time the capacity to teach all the sciences and 
arts, and thus give to Virginia the power and glovy that 
enlightened intellect will ever command. 

ISTothing that his great mind touched upon was without 
its interest. He had been the great reformer of the age — 
had warred against long established abuses, and against 
every principle that tended to perpetuate the old aristo- 
cracy, or to strengthen the hand of power. He had laid 
his axe at the very root of the tree, and eradicated the 
laws of primogeniture, of entails, and of a governmental 
religion; and though these subjects were intimately inter- 
woven with our whole system, and constituted its fibres, 
and nerves, and muscles, yet he possessed the popularity 
and power to destroy them, and to erect a new system 



14 LECTURE. 

upou their ruins. He was the founder of the repnbhcan 
party of that day, aud tlie master builder of the democracy, 
and he pursued the old federal part}^ with the besom of 
destruction, and for this re'ason was subjected to as much 
hostility and vituperation as ever fell to the lot of any man, 
but he pursued his purpose with undiverted aim. 

The three great acts of his life which he deemed worthy 
to constitute the inscription on his monument were the de- 
claration of independence, the act for establishing religious 
freedom, and the establishment of the University of Vir- 
ginia. Not his writings, which were upon almost every 
conceivable subject, and which displayed unusual erudi- 
tion, deep research, universality of taste and unsurpassed 
industry and accuracy ; not his correspondence with all the 
publicists and scholars of the age, marked as it was by origi- 
nality of thought and fearlessness of expression, and stored 
with the consecrated lore of the classics,, and with fruit 
from all the granaries of the earth. Not his acquisition of 
Louisiana, the master stroke of his policy while president, 
which unlocked the Mississippi and its tributaries, and 
brought into existence the millions of human beings, who 
have since teemed like magic in the vast country through 
which these inland seas flow, with myriads of productions 
that have sprung from their industry, enterprise and capital, 
displaying a wealth and magnificence that have made the 
power and . might of this nation the astonishment of all 
people; not his political acts with his party victories and 
triumphs; not the ofiices he filled, with the great men 
around him, agitating and composing great questions and 
guiding a nation's destinies ; but, the emanations of his 
mind — independence, religous freedom and education. 

I have sometimes thought, if Mr. Jefferson could come 
back into the world with the indignant feelings that inspired 
him when he penned the declaration of independence, and 
could take in at a glance the enormities that have been perpe- 
trated upon the southern people since his departure from 
the earth ; could see his beloved Virginia, whose voice was 



LECTURE. 15 

once so potential in the national councils, now palsied by the 
infliction of wrongs more aggravated than those perpe- 
trated upon the colonies by the British king; could see her 
with diminished territory, taxed without representation, 
not permitted in any department of the government to raise 
a finger of warning or utter a word of reprobation against 
those who are warring against constitutions and reeking 
their vengeance upon her people ; could see her citizens de- 
prived of property without their consent, governed by 
laws intended to oppi'css them, not assented to by their 
representatives; her state laws suspended by subordinate 
military commanders by the mere exercise of their orders ; 
trial by jury abolished and substituted by mock trials held 
by petty military officers having no knowledge of law, and 
not recognizing the binding obligation of constitutions ; 
the liberty of the press assailed by the arrest of editors 
and the seizure of their presses and papers; standing 
armies quartered upon her in time of peace, and every ag- 
gravation of misrule impending or threatened. — If he could 
see all this perpetrated by authority of the federal govern- 
ment, not in time of war, but after the restoration of peace 
has been proclaimed, and after all the states have returned 
to their allegiance and become loyal to the government, he 
would blot from his monument that he was the author of 
the declaration, and mourn that in so short a time all its 
principles had been subverted and destroyed. If he did not 
do this, he would attempt to exercise the once acknowledged 
right of petition, and send to congress a remonstrance, 
burning with brands plucked from the altar of liberty, 
breathing the inspired sentiments of a free soul, filled with 
the exalted pride of a freeman, who felt that freedom was 
his inheritance, and that a virtuous nation could not de- 
prive a son descending from noble ancestors who secured 
the liberty of that nation of his just privileges and inesti- 
mable birthright. 

If he were on earth he would at least rejoice that the 
other highest creation of his brain, religious liberty, had as 



16 LECTURE. 

yet stood the wreck of nearly every other hope, and that 
the pet of his old age, the University, still survives. Of 
these, he would have cause still to be proud, and every man 
in the state has cause to be thankful. It is some consola- 
tion at least to reflect that we have one right not yet de- 
nied, — "That Almighty God hath created the mind free; 
that all attempts to influence it by temporal punishment or 
burdens, or by civil incapacitations, tend only to beget hy- 
pocrisy and meanness." (It would be well if our rulers 
would weigh these words in their application to other 
rights !) " That all men shall be free to profess, and by argu- 
ment to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion." 
Every temple that rears its beautiful spire to the clouds and 
adorns our cities, and every lowly church in a sequestered 
grove, is a monument to the sacredness of these principles 
and to the assertion that "truth is great and will prevail; 
that she is the proper and suflicient antagonist of error and 
has nothing to fear from the conflict, unless by human in- 
terposition disarmed of her natural weapons, free argument 
and debate — errors ceasing to be dangerous when it is per- 
mitted freely to contradict them." We have one other 
consolation too, that the University and our other noble 
educational institutions and charities have been permitted to 
exist, and that the higher institutions will in time send down 
bright minds to elevate the lower and bring them in turn 
to the higher, to be improved in a more expanded degree, 
establishing a current of learning through all the ramifica- 
tions of society ; like wisdom descending from the mind 
of the Almighty, permeating all the minds upon earth in 
different degrees, but preparing all as they improve and 
are exalted, to be adapted to inhabit the regions of eternal 
bliss. 

If, m}^ friends, any of you desire to know something 
more of Mr. M^adison — if you desire to glance at his writings 
and his speeches, and the colouring and shading which 
made his bright and eventful life 2:lorious, I must refer 
3'ou to William C. Rives, the gifted biographer, another 



LECTURE. 17 

of Virginia's jewels. You will find him devoting his re- 
tirement to develop the genius and virtues of the patriot 
sage, and endeavoring to transmit to posterity a biography 
worthy of his noble theme. But if you are not content, 
and still desire some specimen of his power of argument, 
and his manner of forging a chain of reasoning, I can only 
invite j'ou to read his report and resolutions of '98 and 
'99. A finer specimen of a lucid style and a more over- 
whelming and convincing argument can scarcely be found 
in the English language. They produced the desired eft'ect 
in their day, and the alien and sedition laws against which 
they were leveled, which were proved to be utterly un- 
constitutional, were suffered to expire by their own limi- 
tation, and were never subsequently revived. They ought 
to have a similar eflfect now, in restraining latitudinarian 
constructions of the constitution. But men have no occa- 
sion for forced or strained constructions now: when con- 
gress, or its leading men, in their mad career rush up 
against the constitution, they do not hesitate a moment, 
but crack their whips and drive right onward through con- 
stitutions and laws, and over principles and rights. If you 
are not satisfied still, and wish to have an inkling of his 
prophetic vision, listen while I give you a short extract, de- 
tailing his apprehensions of the encroachments of the legisla- 
tive department of the government. It saddens the heart 
when we look around us and see how the prophesies of 
these men are being fulfilled — how the encroachments of 
power are sweeping away all constitutional restraints. In 
former days we were accustomed to look with anxiety on 
the usurpations of the executive department, and to hurl 
our thunders at the one man power. Now, we are looking 
with terror at the great malstrom of legislative misrule, 
which is drawing into its maddening and muddy whirl- 
pool all the powers of the government, and usurj)ing pow- 
ers never contemplated by the wildest Utopean. He says : 
"Experience assures us that the efiicacy of providing writ- 
ten constitutions has been greatly overrated, and that 
3 



18 LECTUKE. 

some more adequate defence is indispensably necessary for 
the more feeble against the more powerful members of the 
government. The legislative department is everywhere 
extending the sphere of its activity, and drawing all power 
into its impetuous vortex." " The founders of the re- 
public seem never to have recollected the danger from 
legislative usurpations, which by assembling all power in 
the same hands must lead to the same tyranny as is threat- 
ened by executive usurpations. But in a representative 
republic, where the executive magistrate is carefully lim- 
ited, both in the extent and duration of its power, and 
where the legislative power is exercised by an assembly, 
which is inspired by a supposed influence over the people, 
with an intrepid confidence in its own strength, which is 
sufficiently numerous to feel all the passions which actuate 
a multitude, j-et not so numerous as to be incapable of 
pursuing the objects of its passions, by means which rea- 
son prescribes, it is against the enterprising ambition of this 
department that the peojyle ought to indulge all their jealousy and 
exhaust all their ])recautions.^' 

And I cannot resist the inclination to quote a passage 
from Mr. Jefferson's pen, of similar import. In his im- 
pressive language, he says : " All the powers of government, 
legislative, executive and judiciary, result to the legisla- 
tive body. The concentrating these in the same hands 
is precisely the definition of despotic government. It 
will be no alleviation that those powers will be exercised 
by a plurality of hands, and not by a single one. One 
hundred and seventy-three despots would surely be as 
oppressive as one." 

Were these men speaking of the present congress? 
Were they warning us against the enterprising ambition 
of the legislative department of these times? If the pre- 
sent congress succeed in concentrating all the power they 
are now striving to obtain in their own hands, then we 
shall have precisely the definition of despotic government 
yerified ancj. intensi^eci. "Virginia, dismembered, disheart- 



LECTURE. 19 

ened, spirit-broken Virginia, cannot interpose as she once 
did, for she is helpless and almost hopeless; but there are 
other states — not in the southern clime, but in the frozen 
zone — who may, like Mary, the mother of the Saviour, 
*' keep all these things and ponder them in their hearts." 
We are powerless to restrain, can do nothing but fold the 
arms and shake the head. But other states will come in 
for their share in time. The lion hunts his prey day by 
day, and when he has slaked his thirst with the blood of 
one victim, seeks another. Wisdom looks afar off, and by 
the signs which she has noted, marks the coming tempest, 
and prepares her refuge before it sweeps the ocean and the 
land. 

But I hurry on. If I touch on the character, or actions, 
or writings of any of these men, the materials grow, en- 
large, expand. I have no time to dwell even for a moment 
upon any of the interesting incidents of the war with Eng- 
land which occurred during Mr. Madison's administration. 
If I were disposed to eulogize the old flag, and to paint 
daring deeds, brilliant achievements and thrilling events, I 
might pause for a second, for we had a right to claim a full 
share of the honors and the glory of those days, as well as 
of the days of the revolution. We could run up " Union 
jack" then. We could glory in the motto, "Don't give 
up the ship" then. Our men were there, our guns pealed 
forth their thunders, our ships sent the ships of old Eng- 
land to Davy Jones' locker, their glories were wreathed 
around us. Our money in full share was devoted to the 
service, for the spirit of the south was " millions for de- 
fence, not a cent for tribute," and the blood of our sons 
was freely spilled. It was our home, and our country we 
defended, and we had a right to share all the fame. Then 
our rights were respected, our honor was revered. Vir- 
ginia was at the helm, and the constitution was the com- 
pass. The stars and stripes were the emblem of an Union, 
whose honor and faith were untarnished and spotless. 
State rights were venerated. A gallant ship bore the 



20 LECTURE. 

name of the Constitution, and the gallant tars who were 
aboard of her fought with desperation, because she was the 
type of the fundamental law. She was nicknamed Old 
Ironsides, to indicate that neither shot nor bomb could 
pierce her impregnable sides. Such was the love they 
bore her, that even when she was unfit for service, they 
refused to permit her to be broken up, and every one 
exclaimed with the poet: 

O, better that her shattered hulk 

Should sink beneath the wave ; 
Her thunders shook the mighty deep. 

And there should be her grave." 

And, alas! if the government had continued to respect 
the instrument as they did the emblem ; if they had not 
warred against the one while they adored the other, our own 
Confederate government never would have lived its short, 
glorious and honored life. But while the latter existed, it 
performed one illustrious act at least, that will ring in fu- 
ture time, and glitter in story and in song. As the con- 
gress was the chief violator of the constitution, and a ship 
had been christened the Congress in honor of it, and waa 
its emblem, the iron-clad Virginia of the Confederate 
States conquered the emblem and sent its flames to the 
skies and its ashes to the mighty deep. And at the same 
time sunk the Cumberland, and riddled the Minesota, 
and scared off the Roanoke, and peppered the St. Law- 
rence, and disabled two gunboats, drove off the Erricson 
and silenced the forts. That was glory enough for one 
day. 

If the constitution should ever be respected again; if the 
olden times should ever return ; if men, like the patriots 
of a better age, should once more raise their hands and 
their voices to protect, not only the rights of minorities 
but State rights as they were, once acknowledged, and 
the rights of the humblest and poorest citizen, and we 
could say, " Inasmuch as ye did it to the least of these ye 



LECTURE. 21 

did it unto me." Then we might be able once more to 
say: 

"By the death of the brave ! hy the God in the skies, 
There's life in the old land yet." 

Then the wise and the good might have a brighter hope for 
a better day. 

In the Convention of 1829-'30, the greatest assembly of 
Virginia jewels that was ever exhibited to an admiring 
country, I had an opportunity to witness a little incident, 
which I mention simply to show how great men will some- 
times be appalled. Mr. Monroe, the old soldier of the 
revolution, the friend of Washington, Jefferson and Madi- 
son, and beloved by every body, had been unanimously 
elected president of the convention. The men of other 
days with their mellowed fame, and the men who were pre- 
paring to take their places with the fresh garlands they 
were daily gathering, were assembled around him. They 
were in the hall of the house of delegates, seated in the 
old benches which time had consecrated ; the president in 
the old walnut chair, a curious specimen of antiquity, 
which, even in my day, I have seen with the coat of arms 
of Great Britian emblazoned on its frontlet; the room 
filled to its utmost capacity, when Mr. Madison rose and 
addressed the chair. The reporters seized their pens. 
The convention rose in a body. Every man stood. The 
great man assayed his voice, and finding it too weak to fill 
the compass of the hall, advanced from his seat quite to 
the secretary's table. Nearly the entire convention rushed 
around him. He was confused by the unusual circum- 
stance, faltered once or twice, but then proceeded, and 
while his language was chaste and pure, his ideas did not 
flow in a connected chain, the point and the strength was 
wanting, which he possessed when " he was wont to pull the 
arrow to its head on the strongest bow and let it fly with 
all its power." Few of those who surrounded him could 



22 LECTURE. 

bear his remarks, and none of the spectators could catch a 
syllable. 

In the evening, as secretary, I went as usual to Mr. Mon- 
roe's apartment to read to him the day's proceedings, as 
required by the rules. Mr. Madison came in. It was 
delightful to witness the cordiality of the old cronies, and 
the boyish playfulness with which the one accosted the 
other. It reminded me of the song 

"John Anderson, my Joe, John, 

We've domed the hill thegither, 
And mony a canty day, John, 

We've had we ane anither : 
Now we maun totter down, John, 

In hand and hand we'll go, 
And sleep together at the foot, 

John Anderson, my Joe." 

In a few moments the reporter of the debates entered 
and asked Mr. Madison to run over the notes he had 
sketched of his remarks. "Sir," said he, "I would not 
have you publish that speech as it was delivered for any 
consideration. Did you not perceive that I had the buck 
ague? The situation in which I was placed, the knowledge 
that much was expected of me, the feebleness of my voice, 
the rush of the convention around me, unnerved and sealed 
my brain and it would not work. I will give you the 
remarks I intended to make, but not that speech." 

It is remarkable to see how many of the principles 
announced by all of these remarkable men live to keep up 
their fame. We see their effects every day, — they are pro- 
ducing results in the world now that can scarcely be appre- 
ciated. As an evidence of this, I will barely mention the 
Monroe doctrine, which announced to the world that the 
United States would not permit the nations of the old 
hemisphere to interfere with the concerns of the new. 
Now, we see the time has already come when this principle 
is guiding the government, and the Napoleons of modern 



LECTURE. 23 

times have been warned that they have stepped beyond the 
boundary prescribed, and they must unckitch their grasp 
from Mexico and withdraw their troops. But I am com- 
pelled to close this casket of jewels and hasten to another. 

Mr. Madison died on the 28th of June, 1836. Had he 
lived a few days longer he would have expired on the 4th 
of July, the day which, memorable as it is, was made still 
more memorable by the death of Jefferson, Adams and 
Monroe. He is buried at Montpelier, in the county of 
Orange, and the words James Madison, and the date of 
his birth and death, constitute the only inscription on his 
tomb. 

There is in the cemetery at Hollywood, on the beautiful 
hill which overlooks the river, a monument erected by the 
state in honor of Mr. Monroe. On one side are the words, 
"James Monroe. Born in "Westmoreland county 28th 
April, 1758. Died in the city of New York 4th July, 
1831. By order of the general assembly his remains were 
removed to this cemetery 5th July, 1858, as an evidence of 
the affection of Virginia for her good and honest son." 
On the other side: "The eminent services performed by 
this patriot for his country are enduring monuments of 
his wisdom and virtue." 

After having glanced at these antique gems, we come to 
look at more modern jewels, which we cherish not only 
for their intrinsic value, but for the associations which sur- 
round them. I come to bestow a kind remembrance upon 
John Tyler, another of Virginia's sons, whom she prized 
for the services he rendered, and the noble qualities of his 
head and heart. "When I was first elected clerk of the 
house of delegates, his voice was among the first that I 
heard ringing in its hall, and his hand the first that gave 
me a welcome to the position I occupied. And there was 
a charm about the voice that won upon the heart, and a 
warmth in the grip of the hand that felt cordial, and an 
attraction in the countenance and manner of the man that 
drew you to him with irresistible power. When he was 



24 LECTURE. 

elected governor, which was at the same session of the 
general assembly, I was welcomed in the same way in the 
governor's mansion and in the executive chamber, and such 
was his ease and familiarity, that everybody could approach 
him without the least restraint, and he transacted business 
with such promptness and kindness, that it was a pleasure 
to have official intercourse with him. He was so frank 
and generous, so jovial and cordial, so genial and kind, 
and withal so manly and high toned, and so familiar with 
the duties of his station, that you were ready to give him 
your hand and heart in return for his, which he seemed 
ever ready to proffer. He was then in the heyday of 
popularity, and appeared to be the owner of the talisman 
that secured for him the choicest favors of fortune, and he 
was characterized as her most lucky pet. I have always 
noticed that when men are either petted by the people, or 
have what is called a continuous run of good luck, that 
they generally possess the mental and personal qualities 
that justify the petting, and the judgment and prudence to 
secure the successes they win. 

During Mr. Tyler's gubernatorial term, he was elected 
to the senate of the United States, and while in that body 
was chosen president of the senate, to preside during the 
temporary absence of the vice president, and no man who 
ever occupied the station of senator gave his mind and 
strength to the service of the state with more devotion and 
love. He was a strict constructionist of the old school, 
and had been brought up to admire and to carry out the 
principles inculcated in Madison's report. Throughout his 
whole course in the senate he never swerved for a moment 
from the most rigid interpretation of the constitution, and 
from the most strict limitation of executive power; and 
notwithstanding these were his avowed and well under- 
stood opinions, and had been acted upon with the utmost 
firmness in all the public trusts with which he had been 
invested, yet, after his retirement from the senate, he was 
selected by the Whig party as its candidate for the office of 



LECTURE. 25 

vice president, and was elected, and as is well known, by 
the death of the president in one month after entering 
upon the office, he became the president, and served out 
his official term. It is easy to understand how, under such 
circumstances, he became unpopular with the Democratic 
party, and was denounced by them. And then when he 
began to act upon the principles in which he was nurtured, 
which had become a second nature to him, and with the 
firmness and resolution of his character began to veto the 
long-cherished measures of the party which had elected 
him, and to control their action, it is perfectly natural that 
he should have become distasteful to them. Of course, 
popular favor deserted him for a time, and he was the sub- 
ject of bitter vituperation and of acrimonious feeling for 
the greater portion of his administration. But when he 
summoned around him as members of his cabinet such 
men as John C. Calhoun, and Abel P. Upshur, and Thomas 
W. Gilmer, and John Y. Mason, and Hugh S. Legare, 
men of exalted talents, of high-toned character and vir- 
. tues, of upright honesty and deserved popularity, the 
genial warmth of other days began to revive, party asperity 
began to be mellowed and softened, and long before his 
death he was again beloved, and was held in high estima- 
tion as a virtuous patriot. 

And when stormy times came round again, when the 
southern states had been roused by sectional strife and 
threatened oppression, by violations of the constitution, 
and impending violations of the rights of property, to dis- 
solve the Union, and had formed another government, Mr. 
Tyler was summoned from his retirement and elected a 
member of the convention of Virginia to consider whether 
she should unite her fortunes with the new Confederacy.. 
Virginia, as is well known, paused long, and was willing to 
make every effi^rt to save the Union. Mr. Tyler was ap- 
pointed one of the commissioners to attempt to reconcile 
the contending sections, and prevent, if possible, the threat- 
ened war. We know the fate of his mission. We know, 



26 LECTURE. 

on his return, he counselled a ecverance of the Union, and 
that Virginia took her place with her southern sisters. 
We know that he became a member of the Confederate 
congress, and that all his powers were exerted in the cause 
of the Confederacy. With heart and soul he lent his ener- 
gies and faculties to rouse and encourage the people, to in- 
fuse vigor and life into the public conncils, to energize the 
decimated ranks of our armies, and uphold our gallant 
oiRcers and noble defenders. And we know the sad result. 

In all these situations Mr. Tyler was the same resolute 
and firm representative, the same sincere and devoted 
patriot, and the same warm and kind friend. He com- 
menced his career as a member of the house of delegates 
at the age of one and twenty, and as soon as he was eligi- 
ble, was elected a representative in the congress of the 
United States, and being thus, from boyhood, in all the 
most elevated public positions, he was thoroughly familiar 
with all the men of note, and perfectly versed in all the 
great measures which had agitated and controlled the coun- 
cils of the state and the nation. His father before him had 
been governor of the state, and wherever the old blood is 
traced it is the progenitor of noble and virtuous actions. 
Mr. Tyler's remains were deposited in Hollywood cemetery 
by the side of the ashes of Monroe. Let these two bright 
jewels be placed in the same casket, and let aflection gather 
around and perform the office of keeping up their beauty 
and brilliance. 

My friends, we have all seen some lovely bride in her 
bridal robes, the emblem of purity, with a flowing veil 
partly concealing, partly exhibiting her modest features, 
gathered in folds about her brow by a brooch of pearls 
clustering to form a beautiful laurel bud, all to shed a mild 
glory around her graceful form. Such a picture reminds 
me of Virginia in her maiden bloom, with her sons cluster- 
ing around her like bees about their queen, forming a brooch 
worthy to adorn the brow of any bridal state. Such sons 
as Randolph, of Roanoke, and Littleton W. Tazewell, and 



LECTURE. 27 

Wm. B. Giles, and Benj. W. Leigh, Cliapman Johnson, 
Abel P. Upshur, James Barbour, Philip P. Barbour, Robert 
B. Taylor, William S. Archer and John W. Jones, and I 
could give you a more extended catalogue, brighter and no- 
bler than those which Homer gives of his warriors gathered 
around the walls of Troy. But who can do justice to such 
men as these; who can do himself justice, or do honor to 
the country that gave them birth, by attempting to give an 
inkling of their histories, a surface view of their charac- 
ters, or a shadow of the circumstances by which they were 
environed. I am skimming along like a swallow on the 
surface of a meadow, and can only give you a faint idea 
of the style of oratory of some of them as it appeared to 
me when I have hung upon the inspirations that dropped 
from their tongues. 

I invoke my memory, unaided by books or documents, 
to bring before you a reminiscence of Randolph of Roan- 
oke — one of the most remarkable men of this or of any 
age. The whole appearance of the man was striking. His 
head, in proportion to his frame, was small, his hair, which 
he parted in the middle, grew low upon his brow, and con- 
tradicted the science of phrenologists, by giving to one 
with an expanded brain and great mind a remarkably low 
forehead; his features were rather delicate and feminine, 
and gave him the appearance, when he first went to con- 
gress, of extreme youth, which induced the speaker, when 
he was about to administer to him his official oath, to en- 
quire if he had attained the constitutional age, and which 
elicited from his ever ready tongue the response, " Go ask 
my constituents." His eyes were black and full of lustre, 
his voice peculiarl}'^ feminine and shrill, yet clear as the 
tones of a silver bell, and he could give it a compass which 
would enable the hearer at a distance to catch his lowest 
whisper, when he assayed the deep or the pathetic. His 
neck was very short, and deeply seated between his shoul- 
ders, which were somewhat elevated; the frame of his 
body, for one so thin, was massive, l^is arn^s ijnusually 



28 LECTURE. 

long, and his fingers attenuated, and when he extended 
that right arm in debate, and shook that dexter finger, it 
gave you an idea of the warnings and tln-eatenings that 
were to fi^llow; his limbs, from his body downwards, were 
Ions: and thin, and made him much taller than he seemed 
while seated. His dress at times was fantastic, at one time 
appearing in a full jockey suit, jockey cap, roundabout, 
long toy) boots as high as his knees, spurs and whip like 
one equipped for a race ; at another time wrapped in Rus- 
sian furs, from his cap to his feet ; and then again in plain 
attire, such as other gentlemen wore who are best dressed, 
when the habiliments attract least notice — simple, be- 
coming and appropriate to the man, the place and the 
occasion. 

I heard him twice in debate, once in the senate of the 
United States as the compeer of Calhoun and of Webster, 
and the antagonist of Clay. When I heard him the first 
time he was in one of his excited moods, when his brain 
seemed to be charged with electricity, and the sparkles 
fle^v around him as lieated metal throws off" corruscations 
when struck by some vulcan's hammer. His style was 
eccentric, rapidly jumping from subject to subject like 
meteors flying from a common centre, and you would have 
thought from his sharp hits, right and left, that he would 
strike some of the great spheres revolving there, and hurl 
them beneath his feet. Like Plipeton driving the coursers 
of the sun, with magic power he would smoothl}' and ma- 
jestically glide up the ascent of the blue firmament, and 
then again suddenly, w^itli impetuous daring, dash along, 
seeming to have lost all control of himself, his coursers or 
his chariot, and all regard for his appointed track. He 
would seem to lose sight of the subject in debate, and to 
be hunting his game in out of the way places, but before 
you were aware of his object, you would hear his double 
barrel in the midst of a whole covey, and he invariably 
bagged the bird at which he fired. With all this there 
were copnecting links of argument and illustration, 



LECTURE. 29 

pointed and glaring, when the application of his eccentri- 
cities was made manifest. Senators laid down their pens, 
and turned with eager eyes full upon him, and auditors 
stood breathless until he paused, then expanded their lungs 
with a fall inhalation, and listened with profound attention 
for another outpouring. 

I heard him again in 1829-'30 in the convention. I 
think I see him now as he stood before me then. The 
question for discussion was whether white population and 
taxation combined should be the basis of representation. 
There was a large old stove, of the colonial times, which 
then heated the hall, having the arms of the colony cast in 
the metal, with the motto, '■'■ Eti dat Virginia quartern.''' 
Mr. Randolph had a few days before called my attention to 
it, and said he revered it for its antiquity, the hand of inno- 
vation had not reached it, and it made Virginia the fourth 
estate in the realm. From this stove a pipe ran into the 
opposite partition, and a plain staff which could be grasped 
with the hand arose from the floor and supported this pipe. 
Whether he had taken the position because he desired the 
support of something that had the appearance of stability 
I know not ; but when he rose, he grasped and supported 
himself by this staff with his left hand, his right arm being 
free. It was late in the day, and the concourse of people 
who usually attended the debates had nearly all dispersed. 
But in less time thaii I could conceive it possible for the 
information to have been carried, every avenue to the room 
was flooded, and men walked on tiptoe, as if afraid that 
the creaking of their shoes might lose them a single word. 
His manner was entirely different from that I have hereto- 
fore attempted to describe. It was calm, collected, digni- 
fied and commanding, and his gesticulation was that of a 
master actor. He would begin to express a thought in lan- 
guage, and then leaving the sentence incomplete, would by 
a wave of the hand, or a change of the muscles of the face, 
give the idea as perfect to the mind as if conveyed by the 
most speaking words. No reporter can catch these pecu- 



30 LECTURE. 

liarities, and it is difficult to convey a jnst conception of 
tlie effect. He went on smoothly, expressing liis astonish- 
ment at the changes that had heen proposed to the consti- 
tution, that no part of it shonld be left untouched, ex- 
pressed his amazement at such a result, believed it was the 
very best constitution, not for Japan, not for China, not 
for N'ew England, or for old England, but for tins our 
ancient commonwealth of Virginia. I remember one 
thought, and his manner of uttering it : "I am unwilling 
to pull down the edifice of our state government from the 
garret to the cellar; aye, down to the foundation stone." 
And tlien he said, "The gentleman from Augusta," and 
he seized his cravat with both hands, and twisted and 
pulled at it, as if feeling a sense of extreme suftbcation, 
and the contortions of face united with the efforts of Ihe 
hands to relax the throttle he felt, the whole gesture ex- 
pressing the idea so forcibly, that you saw it palpable that 
he intended to say that Virginia was suffering strangula- 
tion from the ruffians who were assailing her. And yet he 
went on with another idea. These things must be seen to 
be understood. No man that ever I have seen equalled 
him in this respect. He took up the great subject before 
the convention, and argued it with power, grouping the 
arguments of his opponents, and turning them with force 
against them. I remember one other thought. He said 
he had been told not to look at the federal government. 
And this in Virginia, " where to use a very homely phrase, 
but one that exactly suits the case, we can't take a step 
without breaking our shins over some federal obstacle." 
Mr. Tlandolph's style was not that of a close reasoner, of 
one who laiys his premises at a distance, and then step by 
step advances to the conclusion. It was disjointed, not 
dove-tailed, but when fully and spiritedly presented as he 
did it, it was equall}^ overwhelming. 

Mr. Randolph was a descendant through his father from 
Pocahontas, the daughter of Powhatan, the great Indian 
chief. He was elected a member of the house of repre- 



LECTURE. 61 

seutatives in 1799, and was in that body twenty-six years. 
He was in the senate of tlie United States for two j^ears, 
and was then elected a member of the convention of Vir- 
ginia. After the adjournment of the convention, General 
Jackson appointed him minister plenipotentiary to Russia, 
He died in Philadelphia on the 24th of May, 1833. 

What would he have thought if he had lived to the pre- 
sent day? What would have been the thoughts of all the 
men of whom I have spoken? How would they have 
acted had they been on the arena of Virginia now? ITot 
only to see the constitution of their fathers disowned and 
disavowed, but to see the men of the present day living 
under a thinr/ called a constitution adopted by a miserable 
set of a loretclicd minority of three or four counties of this 
old commonwealth, the " magna mater virum,^^ and those 
counties under the thraldom of military occupation, send- 
ing forth spawn, to rule and have dominion over her peo- 
ple! What would these men think were they here now, 
when literally we cannot take a step without breaking our 
shins over some federal obstacle? It might have been 
tolerated when military satraps held the sway and sup- 
ported the ill-gotten power by the bayonet an.d the shell. 
It might have been tolerated when a military commander 
could veto your laws, unrebuked even by a mild remon- 
strance, and could say to the people of this city you may 
elect whom you please as your mayor, but if you elect a 
man distasteful to me he shall not serve. It might have 
been tolerated when your sons were in prison, and you 
spake with bated breath lest the dungeon" should be your 
portion. But when peace has been proclaimed, and you 
are allowed to have a legislature of your own, is there no 
remedy? If the faintest semblance of self-government 
remains, if there is any power residing in the people to do 
anything, they might call a convention to Avipe from exist- 
ence the incubus; that is, the ever-rising, never-ending 
remembrancer of degradation, and having been born 
again, begin the new life with old principles, but with a 



32 LECTURE. 

new constitution and new men. They might in the new 
organic law bring to a full stop the existence of the as- 
sumed power of those who, from the honorable position to 
which they have been improperly elevated, can recommend 
an amendment to the federal constitution, which I am 
proud to see the general assembly of this state has indig- 
nantly rejected; by which every Virginian, who deserves 
the name, would humble and debase himself in his own 
eyes, and in the estimation of every honorable man, if he 
could vote for it; by which Virginia would be required 
to degrade her highest and noblest worthies; by which 
she would consent forever to disfranchise Robert E. Lee, 
and the men who stood shoulder to shoulder and upheld 
his arms in the grand and matchless defence of the ever- 
renowned capitol of his honored state; by which she 
would discard and disinherit the Stonewall brigade, and 
the friends and compatriots of the lion-hearted Jackson — 

" The legions who had seen his glance 
Across the carnage flashing, 
And thrilled to catch his ringing "charge" 
Above the volley crashing;" 

by which she would renounce the men who rode trium- 
phant with the "wings of the army," the cavalry of 
Stuart ; by which the veterans, whose hearts never felt a 
quail, should be scouted from your ccuncils; by which 
you would elevate and honor ignorant Africans, and dis- 
honor and disgrace the men who were spurring by the side 
of " Ashby, our Paladin," to 

" Catch the last words of cheer 
Dropped from his tongue ! 
Over the volleys din 
Let them be rung! 

"Follow me! follow me!!" 
Soldier! oh! could there be 
Pasan or dirge for thee 
Loftier sung." 



LECTURE. 33 

If we have not the power to get rid of even the Alex- 
andria constitution and its representatives, then fold the 
arms in solemn pride, and let them do their worst. 

I return from this digression and come back to the pearls 
of great price. I hope you will hear with me while I at- 
tempt to draw a faint sketch of another orator whom I 
think one of the most gifted of our Virginia statesmen. I 
allude to Abel P. Upshur, a jurist, a judge, a representa- 
tive, a member of the convention of 1829-'30, secretary of 
the navy and secretary of state during the administration, 
of .Mr. Tyler. His forte, I think, was in a deliberative 
assembly. I heard him on many occasions at the bar, for 
he was for a long period attorney for the commonwealth 
in this city. I have listened to his lucid, short, distinct 
and able opinions delivered off hand as a judge. I wit- 
nessed some of his efforts in the convention; but the most 
powerful speech of his life, that I know of, was delivered 
in the house of delegates on the proposition to repeal the 
law which prohibited a man from marrying his wife's 
sister. Judge Upshur was of large frame, broad shoulders, 
expanded chest, fine head, high and capacious forehead, as 
if the brain had pressed it outward. It was like the mas- 
sive brow of Daniel "Webster, though his eyebrows did not 
throw the dark shade upon the face that Webster's did, 
but there was a sunshine playing upon the features as if 
the light had been reflected from his exceeding bald head. 
One eye was defective, but the other was so speaking, that 
it threw the defective one in the shade. At that time old 
General Samuel Blackburn was a member from the county 
of Bath. He was a remarkable man, too, in his day, was 
a grim, morose old customer, who had a peculiar intellect 
of his own, which displayed uncommon powers, but de- 
lighted most in cutting hits upon his brother members, and 
his blows had been given so hard, and repeated so often, 
that he became a terror to the young, and the older avoided 
encounters with him. He had never failed to turn the 
laugh upon his antagonists, and made them subjects of his 
5 



34 LECTURE. 

ridicule and mirth. Judge Upshur had delivered a master 
effort in favor of the bill before the house, and when he 
concluded, having delighted all beyond measure, and the 
effect was manifest in the beaming of the countenances of 
the audience, and in the quivering tear that hung on the 
undried lid, and which rough men were ashamed to wipe 
away, lest they might unfold their weakness, General 
Blackburn undertook to dispel the illusion, and by the em- 
ployment of his old weapons to break the force of the 
argument. He let slip all his dogs, and attempted to worry 
the game by snapping and barking, but as long as he con- 
fined himself to bowlings at arguments which were un- 
touched and unimpaired, a playful smile only lighted up 
the judge's face; but at length he took another tack, and 
assailed his personal appearance, and drew upon his fancy 
for imaginings, derogatory to his personal character, and 
he assayed to laugh him to scorn, and throw him into con- 
tempt. Then I saw the great man's bosom heave, and his 
countenance seemed to grow radiant with a glow, the in- 
spiration of the orator filled his soul. " When Achilles 
was about to draw his sword against Agamemnon, his king 
and chief, we are told the blue-eyed goddess suddenly 
stood behind him with terrible look, invisible to every one 
but himself, seized his yellow hair, and assuaged the wrath 
of the young hero with prudent advice. He withdrew his 
mighty hand from the silver handle, and the sword drop- 
ped back into the scabbard." Kot so Upshur; the blue- 
eyed Pallas lent him the Egis of Jove, and he shook its 
flaming boss full in the eyes of all the house. He began 
with tones that moved the hair on your head, and told that 
his blood was up. He was calm as he is who in danger 
knows no fear — with measured step, and slow, he stalked 
along, and he balanced his words in his hands to see that 
they were well chosen and of the proper weight. There 
was a solemnity around that you could feel; he kept re- 
moving the little impediments from his path, and as he 
advanced ke grew " warm, energetic, chaste, sublime," 



LECTURE. 35 

and when at last he had acquired the proper pitch, and felt 
the key-note had roused his brain, he turned upon the foe, 

" And, with a withering look, 
The war-denouncing trumpet took," 

and his words hissed and scorched. And then he left, as it 
seemed, the hateful theme, and he would come back to the 
subject in debate, and with a mellowed voice soft tones 
were dropped, as if the lighter shades were thrown in to 
make the darkness gloomy and the night more black, and 
then he would serenely recall the imputations on his per- 
son and character that had roused his ire, and assuming 
the tones with which he first began, he drove right onward, 
"and still he kept his wild, unaltered mien, while each 
strained ball of sight seemed bursting from his head." 

I never shall forget that day. I never shall forget the 
look of the denounced and discomfited assailant. I never 
shall cease to remember the spell that bound the hearers, 
and how men gave expression to their feelings by pressing 
around the speaker when he concluded, and giving him the 
cordial grip of the sympathetic hand. Such is a faint 
effort to give you some idea of the manner of the roused 
and animated Upshur. 

I would wish to tell of all the jewels I have mentioned, 
but time will not allow. There are other gems to con- 
stitute the valued ornaments for Virginia's person. I 
can only name th6 bright list of her governors in my day, 
whose persons are familiar to my memory as the Lares 
and Penates of an ancient household, many of whom have 
been intimate and personal friends, whose inestimable 
worth I have seen tried in that hard test of merit, the 
alembic of party feeling and party vituperation, and who 
have come out of the contest like pebbles from the depths 
of ocean, whiter and more polished by the very agitation 
of the waters in which they have been revolving. 

Of Wm. H. Cabell and James Barbour, Wilson Gary 
Kicholas, James P. Preston, Thomas Mann Randolph an4 



36 LECTURE. 

James Pleasants, my father's associates, boon companions 
and bosom friends, who came to his house in social inter- 
course, and indulged in the pleasantries of unreserved, 
unrestrained conversation, interchanging frequent, rich 
and intellectual repasts. 

I have heard them reading over the rough drafts of their 
messages, intended for the gen oral assembly, and listened 
to his and their comments, and caught from them the 
ardent desire so frequently expressed, to do something to 
develop the resources, protect the interests, and defend 
and maintain the rights of their native state — to educate 
the minds, and build up the fortunes of the humble among 
her citizens — to establish, adorn and fructify Virginia 
through all her borders. 

And from the commencement of my official career to its 
termination, I can only mention, with high respect and 
esteem, the names of William B. Giles, John Tloyd, Lit- 
tleton W. Tazewell, David Campbell, Thomas W. Gilmer, 
James McDowell, William Smith, John B. Floyd, Joseph 
Johnson, Henry A. Wise and John Letcher; and her 
acting governors, AVyndham Robertson, John M. Patton, 
John Rutherfoord and John M. Gregory. What a space 
in the ej'es of the nation have not these men filled ? How 
dear have they been in the just aftections of the people. 
How ardently they too strove to elevate the name of Vir- 
ginia. How they gloried in endeavoring to save the Union 
by preserving the constitution, straining every nerve to 
check the unlimited exercise of ungranted powers, and to 
restrain the different departments of the government within 
their respective spheres, uttering continued warnings and 
thrilling appeals to prevent sectional jealousies and sec- 
tional strife, and foreshadowing with gloomy forebodings 
the gathering storm, while they solemnly and ardently 
hoped for the preservation of peace. God, in his wisdom, 
willed it otherwise ; brothers' hands have been imbued with 
brothers' blood, and woe, with unnumbered ills, has fol- 
lowed in the wake of desolating war. How sad it is to 



LECTURE. 37 

look over the bright catalogue, and note how few there are 
who have not gone to the silent tomb'; and though 

" Their fame on brightest pages, 
Penned by poets and by sages, 
Shall go sounding through the ages ;" 

yet the very monuments that were reared to honor their 
names have been torn from the state and obliterated from 
her record. Oh ! it was thought that if a portion of Vir- 
ginia's territory should bear their honored names, it would 
be a monument more enduring than marble or bronze ; but 
it has been reserved for him who occupies that executive 
chair, that each of them graced and adorned, to perpetrate 
the deed, and to have been one of the foremost to obliterate 
our ancient boundaries, and to give the counties that bore 
their names to a bastard state. Better that they should 
have " been cold and dead, and lying low," than to have 
heard " the wailing of our people in their woe." Shame 
on the sons of the state who aided in accomplishing the 
deed. Shame on the men of the nation who ratified the 
outrage. Shame on the men 

"Who would have our proud eagle to feed on the eyes 
Of those who have taught him so grandly to soar." 

I can barely allude to the long list of her judges. Her 
revered, honored, simple hearted, learned Marshall, her 
"Wythe and Pendleton, her Tuckers — I could dwell upon 
this name and his exalted worth — her Roane, Brooke, Carr, 
Cabell, Coalter, Daniel, Brockenbrough and Stanard. Jus- 
tice, according to the ancient poets, was depicted with a 
bandage over her eyes, indicating that she could not be 
impartial unless deprived of her sight. Such men as these, 
with eyes unfettered, and with minds unbiassed by passion 
or prejudice, could hold the scales of justice with even 
balance, and dispense her fair and equitable judgments 
without exciting a murmur of discontent. Their opinions 
were everywhere received as sound and true interpretations 



38 LECTURE. 

of the subtleties of law and of constitutional right. Can 
you imagine anything more abhorrent to the feelings of 
such men, thus versed in constitutions and laws, and in the 
principles of free government, as adopted and adored until 
now by the people in every state in the Union, than to see 
the military superior to the civil power, and contemning 
and controlling its judges after a proclamation of peace, 
denying the writ of habeas corpus, and petty military com- 
manders refusing to obey it. Judges lending themselves 
to the dirty work of packing juries, and suborning and 
paying witnesses to testify falsely against the purest and 
best men in the land. Aye, judges confiscating property, 
and rendering judgments in their own favor, to secure that 
property for themselves. Denying the representative of a 
brave and noble people, who had been insulted, manacled 
and confined in the unwholesome cell of a dungeon, in the 
strongest fort in the world, the right to know the offence 
for which he was incarcerated, to be confronted with his 
accusers, and the right to a speedy trial by an impartial 
jury — a right secured in the constitution to the meanest 
person accused of any offence — a right which the great 
men of Virginia and of every other state declared to "per- 
tain to them and their posterity as the basis and founda- 
tion of government." What would such men as Marshall, 
and Wythe, and Eoane have said, if they had been asked 
'by a committee of congress if they could procure a jury 
in their courts to convict a criminal? I can imagine the 
look from the flashing eye of the old chief justice. It 
would have indicated that he felt the question was an in- 
sult, and he would have retorted that Virginia judges never 
packed juries at the bidding of any authority for any pur- 
pose. He would have added, that no man who had the 
character to be summoned on a jury could be found who 
would act if he had made up his mind to convict any pri- 
soner, and that the judge who would instruct the sheriff" to 
summon a jury for such a purpose, would be as base as the 
juror who would do his bidding. Such would be the Ian- 



LECTURE. 39 

guage of any man worthy to be a judge. He would sooner 
rest with the blessed, until 

" The last and dreadful hour 
This crumbling pageant shall devour," 

than be the hateful instrument to execute a hateful purpose 
by corrupt means of degrading a proud and great man who 
has become the very embodiment of a proud and grand 
people. Corruption may do its worst, but fetters and dun- 
geons cannot bind the soul or disturb the mind conscious 
of rectitude and glorying in virtue. Such judges as these, 
though, would have rejoiced to see that the supreme court 
have at last had the firmness to throw themselves into the 
breach, and to decide that the military must be subservient 
to the civil power, and that no more trials of civilians shall 
be permitted before military tribunals on any pretence 
whatever. With such decisions as those we may say, there 
is a department where justice and right predominate, and 
there is a spark of the old fire kindling on liberty's altar. 
Perchance it may burn pure and bright as in other days. 

Few men in any government have had a finer opportu- 
nity to learn the capacities, the feelings and principles 
which actuate the mind and elucidate the character of pub- 
lic men than I have had while seated at the humble desk 
in the legislative and executive halls of the state for the 
last forty years. But why do I call it humble, when the 
office of the clerk of the house of delegates has been occu- 
pied by such men as Edmund Randolph, George Wythe, 
William Wirt, James Pleasants, William Munford, St. 
George Tucker and William F. Gordon, men of far-reach- 
ing intellects and exalted virtues. By Eandolph, the first 
attorney-general of the state, and the first attorney-general 
of the United States, who had been a member of congress, 
governor, secretary of state under General Washington, 
and member of the conventions which adopted and ratified 
the constitution of the United States. By Wythe, the 
pure and virtuous chancellor, who had been in the house of 



40 LECTURE. 

burgesses, member of the convention, member of congress, 
signer of the declaration of independence, speaker of the 
house of delegates, judge of the court of appeals, member 
of the conventions on the constitution of the United States, 
revisor of the state laws, professor of law at William and 
Mary college, and a philosopher, instilling into the minds 
of his pupils principles of virtue and wisdom. By Wirt, 
the chaste, refined and eloquent orator, chancellor, district 
attorney, and attorney-general of the United States. And 
by Pleasants, distinguished for high public and private vir- 
tues, who had been member of congress. United States 
senator, governor, member of the convention of 1829-'30, 
and was twice appointed judge, but modestly declined to 
serve from a distrust of his own qualifications — a distrust 
which no one entertained but himself. To chancellor 
Wythe was reserved the honor of devising the emblems 
and motto for the seal of the state. On one side were 
Libertas, Ceres, Mernitas, with the motto, Perseverando. The 
blessings of liberty and abundance for eternity were to be 
obtained by perseverance. On the other side. Virtus with 
her foot upon the tyrant's neck, and the motto, ^^Sic semper 
ti/rannis." But it was reserved for the wiseacres at Wheel- 
ing, or the literati at Alexandria, or the officers of those 
governments, I cannot discover which, to change this rem- 
nant of antiquity, and to mar the unity of these thoughts 
by crowding into the seal the motto, " Liberty and Union." 
Libertas with her cap and pileus, was not liberty enough for 
those who were destroying the liberty of the white race, so 
they inserted liberty again. And they added the word 
Union as entirely appropriate, because the state was not in 
the Union at the time ; and the same men deny her admis- 
sion now. Liberty abridged, and Union disunited. For 
eighty-three years the old seal was deemed good enough 
for Virginia. If I had the power I would obliterate the 
new motto as one of the first acts connected with the resti- 
tution of the state to vindicate the intellects of her great 
men, and the authority of her first convention. Let the 



LECTURE. 41 

seal of George Wythe remain uublurred by the Alexandria 
usurpation. When the old state shall be razeed into a ter- 
ritory, let them blur the seal to their heart's content — its 
emblems and mottoes will be inappropriate then. Let 
some representative of the Alexandria convention haul 
down the old flag from the capitol and throw it into the 
garret. But you can never erase from the soul of an old- 
fashioned Virginian the burning desire to see Virtus with 
her foot upon the tyrant's neck : 

"You may break, you may shatter the vase if you will, 
But the scent of the roses will hang round it still." 

The greater the oppression, the greater the tyranny — the 
more glorious will the old motto be. 

I have been told that the last legislature recognized this 
interpolation upon the seal, by enacting that the seal now 
in possession of the secretary of the commonwealth should 
continue to be the seal of the state. If that seal was 
adopted without a shadow of authority, as I believe is the 
fact, I do hope the aat will be repealed, and the old seal 
revived. 

, It is a great pleasure to me sometimes to look back into 
the past and pleasantly to recall the men of other days with 
whom I have been associated; and there is no reminis- 
cence more delightful than the intercourse I have had 
with the various speakers of the house of delegates 
whom I have known, or under whom I have served — men 
of whom any state might be proud. Such men as James 
Barbour, Andrew Stevenson, Robert Stanard, Linn Banks, 
Joel HoUeman, Thomas W. Gilmer, George "W. Hopkins, 
William 0. Goode and Valentine W. Southall — men who 
were deeply versed in parliamentary lore, and understood 
the advantage of a rigid application of simple but wise 
rules for the government of assemblies. In those days 
there was comparatively little necessity for the speaker's 
gavel to command order. There was something in the 
richness and mellow tones of old James Barbour's voice — 
6 



42 LECTURE. 

something in the commanding, and I may say domineering 
manner of Andrew Stevenson — something in the firm, 
sharp and decisive way of Linn Banks, and in the decorum 
and dignity of each, that generated dignity and decorum 
in all around. There was no confusion, business was ex- 
pedited, system and order prevailed, and the house of dele- 
gates of Virginia was a model for deliberative assemblies. 
In those days I have seen old Peter Francisco, the giant 
sergeant-at-arms, so renowned in revolutionary times for 
his herculean strength, grasp a stout man by the collar 
with his left hand, and raising him from the floor with per- 
fect ease, walk him out of the house for having improperly 
intruded within the bar. There was no necessity to direct 
such a sergeant to preserve order in the lobby. But these 
men are all gone. I can only say now, twine laurel wreaths 
around their graves, sprinkle orange blossoms over their 
ashes, let them linger in your memories, and spring up in 
sempiternal verdure in the gardens where trees of life will 
flourish. 

And there is no recollection more agreeable than the in- 
tellectual repasts I have had while witnessing the eflfects of 
oratory when handled by a skillful master. It is gratifying 
to view the power of the human mind upon other minds — • 
to see how the master plays upon the strings of sympathy — 
how his reason convinces the judgment of others — how he 
animates, refreshes, instructs — how an assembly will be 
swayed to and fro as an earthquake makes the mountains 
reel. I have seen such effects produced by the inspirations 
of the Prestons and McDowell, by Henry A. Wise, Joseph 
C. Cabell, and Charles Fenton Mercer, and the Masons, 
and the brilliant and impetuous Dromgoole, and Robert E. 
Scott, and R. M. T. Hunter, and Gholson, and Brodnax, 
and the Robertsons, and Flournoy, and Edmunds, and 
John Thompson Brown, the bright and morning star. 
Men who would have graced any station — men with bril- 
liant genius and erudition, with the amor pafrice warm in 
their hearts^ and glowing and passionate expressions of 



LECTURE. 43 

j&lial piety to Virginia dropping from their tongues — men 
who had imbibed their ideas of government from the 
fathers of the revolution, and would have scouted and 
scorned the political vagaries, and heresies, and radical 
rabies of the present day — men who, like Dromgoole, 
could ride on the whirlwind and direct the storm, or who, 
like John Thompson Brown, with plaintive voice and dul- 
cet tones, seemed to be dipping his fingers in purest water, 
and drawing forth melody from the gentle vibrations of 
musical glasses. 

While my theme confines me to Virginia's jewels, and I 
have therefore mentioned none others, yet I am not limited 
to the boundaries of the state, and if time would permit, I 
would open caskets full of bright ornaments. Such men 
as William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor, presidents 
of the United States, military gems, endowed with gold 
medals, emblazoned with emblems and devices of victories 
and gallant triumphs. Virginia rocked them in her cradle, 
and dandled them on h.er knee ; their honors are her 
honors, and history has recorded and etched their achieve- 
ments into the very memory of mankind; and Henry 
Clay, the glorious old orator and patriot, whose fame is as 
undying as any of them ; and William H. Crawford, and 
William C. Preston, and John S. Preston, and John J. 
Crittenden, and Sterling Price; and I could surround their 
names with governors of other states, senators and repre- 
sentatives, cabinet ministers, foreign ambassadors, oificers 
of the army and navy, judges and professors, bishops and 
clergy, authors, historians and poets, who have proudly 
claimed Virginia as their native land, and filled their high 
offices with honor to themselves and advantage to their fel- 
low-men. 

And besides all these there are jewels of the public 
press, that great power in free govei^nment that cannot be 
overlooked, whose wheels, like Ezel^iel's vision of the che- 
rubims, are instinct with eyes to enable them to discover 
what is passing, and with wings spreading in every direc- 



44 LECTURE. 

tion to carry information with the rapidity of the wind. 
Among these I can but mention Thomas Ritchie, the old 
Napoleon of the press, and John Hampden Pleasants, the 
Javelin to pierce, and the keen -edged sword to cut and to 
slash, and 0. Jennings Wise, the hero of Roanoke island, 
as bright with the pen as with the sword. 

Swiftly hurrying on as I am, I can only say for the 
gems that have been omitted, go look in your country's 
pages, you will find them there, sparkling like " the stars 
which glitter in the noon of night;" and I can imagine 
that all the stars in the heavens are but the mild and speak- 
ing eyes of Virginia's sons, looking down with smiles upon 
their mother — smiling, because invested with power to see 
that the dark shadow which at present eclipses her once 
radiant disk will pass away, and her light will shine again 
in accustomed splendor. 

If you will bear with me a little longer, I am coming 
down to later times, when the usurpations of the federal 
government, prophesied or foreshadowed by our fathers, 
caused the southern states to attempt to assume among the 
powers of the earth a separate and independent station. 
I am coming down rapidly to the time when Virginia, feel- 
ing these usurpations as either immediate, or threatened 
as ultimatel}^ certain, assembled her other memorable con- 
vention, and having exhausted all powers of conciliation, 
and used all proper and jealous precautions, united her 
fate with that of her southern sisters. It was the power 
she interposed between the government and the other states 
that made her soil the chief battleground of the dreadful con- 
test, and brought upon her desolation and anguish. It was 
her devotion to the cause that impelled her to throw wide 
open the doors of her treasury, and devote all her finances 
to the accomplishment of the common purpose — to throw 
open her arsenals, and dedicate all her military stores and 
great resources to the common defence — to bring forward 
her priceless jewels, her peerless sons, and bid them ofier 
in her name their glorious services, and lay down, if need 



LECTURE, 45 

be, their valued lives to vindicate a people's honor. No- 
thing did she withhold — all was perilled. Everything was 
absolutely sacrificed. And this is the reason to-day that 
she is at the mercy of those who know no mercy, and is 
bereft of her rights by those who have no magnanimity in 
their souls. But though we are thus bereft, we have yet 
the poor privilege of returning "thanks to-day, that neither 
our terrible sufferings, nor the abuse of our enemies, have 
converted us into base poltroons, nor taught us to heap 
dust and ashes upon the history, memories and traditions 
of the joys and sorrows of our grand but fruitless strug- 
gle for national independence." 

And while hope seems hopeless, we have learned a les- 
!^on of patient endurance, and been taught that we must 
wait until those who are now revelling with the strong and 
aiding the mighty, shall themselves feel the grasp of the 
wrongdoer, and have their rights wrested from them, and 
shall see the necessity of peacefully applying some remedy 
other than that to which we resorted with all the power that 
God had given us. 

These were trying times, when the assembled congress 
of the Confederacy pondered over the affairs of the unre- 
cognized nation. When all the nations of the earth were 
looking on at the fearful fray, and while in their hearts 
they could not but applaud the noble resistance we were 
making, yet coldly threw every obstacle in our way, and 
permitted their hundreds of thousands to swell the million 
against us, and gave us the neutralit}^ that benefitted the 
United States alone. Oh ! those were trying times, when 
our Randolph and Seddon in the cabinet — our Hunter and 
Preston and Caperton in the senate, and our Tyler and 
Rives and Bocock and Lyons and Baldwin and Brocken- 
brough, Russell, Preston, Johnston, Goode, Garnett and 
Chambliss and others were, day by day and night after 
night, encouraging and strengthening the national arm : 
and though differing as to the best course, and objecting 



46 LECTURE. 

often to the policy pursued, yet ever demonstrating that, 
let who would falter, Virginia was steadfast in her resolu- 
tion, and would maintain her faith to the utmost extremity. 
No man in that assembly or elsewhere, when he talked of 
failures or losses, or submission, could point the linger at 
Virginia and say, "You did it." "When she failed, it was 
after a desperate struggle. When she encountered losses, 
they were accompanied by four-fold losses to the enemy, 
that made him stagger and reel. When submission came, 
it was the submission of all ; but she was there, if possible 
to avert it — overwhelmed, not dismayed. When hope fled 
affrighted and desolation reigned supreme, she was there to 
bear the brunt. 

My friends — I cannot quit my exhaustless theme, without 
pausing for a moment to bestow one grateful acknowledg- 
m.ent to those who survive this dreadful ruin — one tearful 
eulogium upon those who gave their lives in the fruitless 
endeavor to redeem their country from degradation and op- 
pression. I would I could dwell upon the brilliant achieve- 
ments of our noble armies, and the personal daring of their 
great commanders. I would I could record all the glories 
that glittered around our handful of famous but unfortunate 
ships, and that decked the brows of their intrepid officers. 
I can barely recite the names of a few of Virginia's war- 
riors, and must leave it to our sister states to perpetuate the 
memories of their heroes and patriots. I must leave the 
record to be illustrated and graven in never-dying measures, 
by the Homers and Shakespeares who shall spring from the 
halls of our literary institutions, where moral grandeur shall 
be taught by the greatest of those heroes and patriots. I 
must leave to some gifted orator, with his soul elevated by 
the inspiration of a Randolph, an Upshur or a Wise, to 
pour forth eulogies in their praise, so exalted that " the 
world should listen then as I am listening now." I can 
only recall the bright list of names, and bid you recall the 
devotion you felt towards them when they rode upon their 



LECTURE. 47 

war steeds, with small, compact and intrepid bands of 
soldiers near them, and the once proud banner floating 
o'er them. 

" For though conquered, you adore it ; 
Love the cold, dead hands that bore it, 
And weep for those who fell before it." 

Names of Eobert E. Lee and Joseph E. Johnston and 
Thomas J. Jackson and Early and Stuart and Ashby and 
the Lees and Rosser and Beverley Robertson and Thomas 
T. Munford, Ewell, Armistead, Magruder, Hill, the Joneses, 
Rhodes, Wise, Floyd and Taliaferro, Pendleton, Mahone, 
Anderson, Kemper, Pryor, Corse, Pegram, Imboden, Heth, 
Garnett, Edward Johnson, Lomax, Mosby, Hunton and 
Smith, and Allen, Preston, Cummings, Harris, Echols, 
Cocke, Gibbons, Garland, Walker, Terry, Brockenbrough. 

Oh! how their bright faces are cherished in the albums 
of our memories ; how the incidents of their lives are gar- 
nered among our treasures ; how we pity the unknown pri- 
vate, as he passes by with his sleeveless arm, or his single 
leg, hobbling on his crutch — unknown, but honored in our 
hearts ; how the youths and the boys hang upon the recital 
of all their glories ; how the faded uniforms will be hung 
up and preserved ; and the very buttons that clasped their 
bosoms will become precious keepsakes and amulets. Power 
may endeavor to secrete them, by meanly cutting them from 
the coat of one who from his poverty had nothing else to 
wear, but they will be hid among the trinkets of our maidens, 
and be wept over by mothers as relics of a dying son ; and 
the button from the coat of Lee or of Jackson will in after 
time be purchased in other climes, where greatness is ad- 
mired, as priceless mementoes. Men will cherish the memo- 
ries and traditions of the wounded, and the immortal dead 
who perished in what they believed a holy cause. They 
cannot forget their own rejoicings and cheerings for victo- 
ries, nor the sorrows and moanings for the defeats of our 
harassed, outnumbered aud overpowered veterans. They 



48 LECTURE. 

will not forget the purity of our women, nor the sacrifices 
they made, nor the works of their hands, nor their minis- 
trations to the sick, the wounded and the dying, nor their 
animating presence, the wave of the parting hand, nor the 
cheer of their excited voices rousing the sinking spirit in 
time of gloom, and encouraging their loved ones to daring 
and peril for the sake of country. 

Oh, we cannot dwell upon them now, but we will never 
forget, and they cannot tear from our thoughts the history 
and the glorious traditions of Manassas, of Kernstown, 
Cross Keys, Port Republic, Front Royal, Alleghany, Win- 
chester, Cedar Creek, of Williamsburg and Fredericksburg, 
Chancellorsville, Seven Pines, Harpers' Ferry, Sharpsburg, 
Boonsborough, Antietam, Middletown, and Gettysburg, and 
Chickahominy, Mechanicsville, Ellyson's Mills, Beaver Dam 
Creek, Gaines' Mill, Cold Harbour, Garnett's farm, Mal- 
vern Hill, Drewrys' Blutf and Petersburg — nor Roanoke 
Island, nor Donelson, nor Shiloh, nor Vicksburg, nor 
Chickamauga, nor Pea Ridge, nor Charleston, nor the 
mighty struggles over mountain and valley, moor and hill 
from the Potomac to the Rio Grande. 

But I weary you with my long detail. The glories of 
these fields in this day need no description. And though 
the Southern Confederacy has gone down never to rise, and 
her name is not among the list of nations, she will be like 
the sun when he sets — whose "glory remains when his 
light fades away." Oh, we can no more see her armies bat- 
tling for right and astonishing the world; we can no more 
see her spotless banner waving over her ramparts ; we can 
no more rally her men, or inspire breath into her dry bones 
that she may live. We must acquiesce in the hard neces- 
sity that is upon us — droop our hopes and enfold our con- 
quered cause in our hearts, and 

"Furl that banner, for 'tis weary, 
Round its staff 'tis drooping dreary. 

Furl it — fold it; it is best ; 
For there 's not a man to wave it, 
And there 's not a sword to save it ; — 



LECTUKE. 49 



There 's aot one left to lave it 
In the blood that heroes gave it ; — 
And its foes novj scorn and brave it ! 
Furl it^fold it; let it rest! " 

There is ii duty whieli we still liave to perform, a debt of 
gratitude which we must pay. Our southern "wives aud 
daughters have inaugurated the undertaking and it is glo- 
rious to follow in their lead. They have collected the bones 
of the mighty dead and furled the banner around them; 
they have gathered the ashes into urns aud placed them 
among the monuments and cenotaphs of the cemetery, and 
it is their purpose to beautify and adorn the place so that 
pilgrims may come to it as a modern Mecca. They pur- 
pose to perform the duty of keeping the graves clear of 
the damp and noxious weed, to freshen and chisel deeper 
the names and the epitaphs on the simple tombs aliection 
may rear ; to smooth the path and turf the plats that sur- 
round the walks; to plant roses and eglantines, the holly, 
the cypress, the yew, the laurel and the bay ; to invite the 
cool shade to protect from summer's heat, and let in the sun- 
shine to moderate the winter's cold; to interweave the 
sweet brier and the vine by the side of the murmuring 
brook; to keep oil' the rude hands that disturb, mutilate 
and destroy, and to the peaceful undisturbed retreat invite 
the robin and the mocking bird to warble their sweetest 
lays 

" And pour their full heart 
In profuse strains of unpremeditated art." 

And when the mother and the sister, the widow and the 
orphan, and the love lorn maiden shall come to look for 
the lost one, they may feel that 

" They are within the door 
That shuts out loss and every hurtful thing." 

And though they may be weeping sad tears and bitterly 
wailing that there was 



50 LECTURE. 

" Not a pillow for his head, 
Not a hand to smooth his bed, 
Not one tender parting said, 
— Slain in battle !" 

May the hand of sympathy load them to the spot where 
the sad relic is softly iniirned, and may they know that 
when the ladies of Virginia have undertaken to guard it, 
that 

" Somebod}^ is watching and waiting for him, 

Yearning to hold him again to her heart ; 
There ho lies with the blue eye dim, 

And smiling, child-like, lips apart: 
Tenderly bury the fair young dead, 

Pausing to drop on his grave a tear ; 
Carve on the wooden slab at his head, 

Somebody's darling lies buried here." 

And you, my friends, arc invoked to help in this holy 
work ; and when you have done this, then remember that 
the widow and the orphan require your help, and must 
never be permitted to sutler for food, or raiment, or home, 
or ligld for the orphan mind. 



